THE JAMAICA Hockey Federation (JHF) will be hosting a meeting with coaches of Corporate Area girls high schools at its Mona facility, starting at 1:30 p.m. today to outline plans for its next competition.Coaches of the schools who have traditionally entered the schools hockey competitions are invited to attend. These include Alpha, Campion, Excelsior, Holy Childhood, Immaculate, Mona, Papine, Queen's, St. Andrew, St. Hugh's, Tivoli, Trench Town and Wolmer's.
Also invited are seven new schools who the JHF are trying to woo into the hockey fraternity for 2005. They are Ardenne, Camperdown, Hillel, Priory, Meadowbrook, Merl Grove and St. Andrew Technical (STATHS).
Other interested high schools not invited may still attend this meeting.
On the agenda are presentations by the president and vice president on the 'Vision and National Strategic Development Plan for School Hockey', to be followed by discussions.
Also to be discussed is the state of readiness of schools as the JHF attempts to return hockey matches to school grounds and plans for the further development of coaches, players and officials will also be presented with a view to raising the standard of the sport.
SCHOOLGIRLS HOCKEY CALENDAR
The 2005 schoolgirls hockey calendar will be finalised at this meeting.
Meanwhile, the JHF indoor hockey tournament has been pushed back to November 20. It was scheduled to start on November 6 and was to be played at Mona on the artificial turf.
The last time an indoor hockey tournament was played in 1998, it was played on the traditional hard surface under the covers of the National Arena. Side boards, usually four inches in height, are used to keep the ball in play, making for fast exciting action.
The competitions committee of the JHF will use eight-inch boards in this tournament to compensate for the bounce of the artificial grass.
The women's Under-21 squad in training for the Junior Pan Am Games in 2005 will be the first to try this new indoor/outdoor tournament on the turf in what will effectively be a mock tournament, on November 6.
The postponement of the tournament has become necessary because some clubs, due to lack of organisation, have failed to submit the requested information on a timely basis and failed to have their representatives attend meetings of the competitions committee. Continued failure of the clubs to respond appropriately will result in cancellation of the tournament.
